Lightweight pipe clamps

Re: Lightweight clamps

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

Hi Jack,

Don't know what your gluing but for stuff that big I use ratcheting strap clamps with blocks to protect edges.

Re: Lightweight clamps

Jack Dover

I have tried it a few times. Maybe I wasn't doing it right, but regular autostore ratcheting straps couldn't produce sufficient pressure on a similar glue up - the way pressure is distributed dovetails don't get closed all the way. So my plan B is to use straps to hold the case and the cauls together and pull it together as much as it can, and then put pipe clamps. Did it once on a smaller case and timing was still a bit too tight.

Alu Pipe

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

McMaster-Carr carries aluminum pipe in various wall thicknesses. It's all unthreaded, I think, so you may have to do some cobbling. I would call them to find out the weight of the various gauges.

clamping pressure

Dick Coers

If a ratchet strap doesn't exert enough pressure, a lightweight aluminum pipe won't do much better. I can bend a 6' black pipe clamp very easily, aluminum would be like a noodle in my opinion. The clutch plates or pawl will really mark up the aluminum in a hurry!

Re: Lightweight pipe clamps

Garthfromsandiego

I've got a couple made from electrical rigid conduit. Lighter than iron pipe. Haven't noticed any problems resulting from fact that it is galvanized.

Re: Lightweight pipe clamps

Barry Irby

I have had pipe clamps for many years. Some of them are on galvanized pipe and some are on black iron. Some of the black iron may have been Chinese and was slightly undersized and did not lock up as well as it should. The clutch plates dig into the galvanizing, but they work well enough if you don't crank down on them too hard. I suspect your difficulty with the aluminum would be finding some that is exactly the correct size and hard enough to resist slipping as the clutch plates shave off the metal.

Re: clamping pressure

Jack Dover

Great point on aluminum being soft, there were quite a few dings on those pipes. I rarely clamp it so hard that a pipe bends, but given that I have destroyed a few aluminum bar clamps without even realizing, a sliding jaw could slide when least expected.

When I tried straps, the way forces were distributed a case was pulled together kinda like a mitered joint. A dovetail closes better when there's two perpendicular vectors of force, I was expecting this from straps but couldn't make press in a right direction. I didn't have blocks like actual strap clamps do, just some scraps of 1x, maybe this is why? Or maybe regular straps are too elastic? They're synthetic, looked dense, but still stretched. My plan so far is to heat up the shop, use UF glue (for the longes opening time) and make sure joints come together with just hand pressure hoping there's enough time to put cauls and heavy clamps on.

Re: Lightweight pipe clamps

Jack Dover

Yeah, that could actually work. Conduit pipes are unthreaded, right? How did you put a head, just screwed it on?

Re: Lightweight pipe clamps

Jack Dover

Black and galvanized pipes are the same material, it's steel, right? They should weight the same I assume. Interesting, but my local HD (which I'm currently limited to) has galvanized pipes for x4 the price of black. I was thinking maybe getting 1/2" pipes, should be lighter, but for longer lengths bigger diameters are recommended, so idk, maybe I should train a helper.

Re: Lightweight pipe clamps

Barry Irby

Yes, black and Galvanized pipe are both steel and assuming the wall thickness is the same they will weigh the same.

If you want to do yourself a favor and stop trying to reinvent the wheel buy yourself several Dubuque clamps long enough for the job. We recently had a long discussion about them here. Harry J Epstein is a good place to buy them as are several other places. I don't know what aluminum pipe would cost or how you would get it threaded or if it would function well once you do but the only regret you will have with Dubuque clamps is that you don't have more of them. Buy once, Cry once.

PS. I have used the strap clamps and they work well enough, but can be something of a struggle to get just right. Pad the corners. If you crank down on them hard enough, they will round over the corner the corner. (If they do, wet it thoroughly and wait.)

Dubuque clamping force?

Jack Dover

I was under impression that Dubuque clamps are just regular bar clamps minus price engineering, and that they're for relatively delicate glue ups, i.e. for something that comes together easily and just has to be hold firm. I was also thinking that pipe clamps exert way more pressure and can clamp things that normally don't go together easily, like wide hardwood panels with concave edges.

You're right that it's better to buy a read-made clamp, at least financially, I'm just trying to figure it's the right thing for the job. Harry Epstein lists 72" bar clamps, how do they compare to pipe clamps in terms of pressure?

Were you absent......

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

.....from my numerous discussions of these clamps. They were designed for industrial panel gluing in furniture factories. I have glued hundreds of panels with them. The only time I use my industrial steel Hargrave I'beam clamps now days if for 8/4 lumber.

I was

Jack Dover

I've joined WC a few weeks back and search doesn't work for me. There was just a single conversation mentioning Dubuque clamps since then, I vaguely recall you had stated it there now.

search help

Clifton C

Jack, this, site specific, way to search has helped me on numerous occasions...

In the search bar of your browser type in

site: www.woodcentral.com Dubuque

So,"site:" then a space after the colon, then the website you want to search, a space after .com, then the search word...

In the above example, the computer hyperlinks just www.woodcentral.com so you cannot just click it, you would have to copy and paste the whole line, not just the blue hyperlink.

it works!

Jack Dover

Thanks Clifton! I keep forgetting most forums are open for indexing by a search engine these days, it used to be otherwise not too long ago. I have a bunch of old discussions to read now.

Ha.....

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

you have a bit of catching up to do. I assign you 4 Articles of light reading from the Articles section per day, with a quiz each Friday

On the topic of these clamps, I have never seen them flex in use. They bear no resemblance to Harbor Freight clamps. Certainly way stiffer and maybe stronger in tension that pipe clamps.

Re: Lightweight pipe clamps  *LINK*


https://www.harryepstein.com/dubuque-72-usa-aluminum-bar-clamp.html

Re: Dubuque clamping force?

Barry Irby

Bill Tindall put me/us onto the Dubuque Clamps several years ago and I bought 12. 6 @ 2' and 6 @ 3'. I use them for every glue up where they fit and have never found anything delicate about them. I have applied as much pressure as I can without a cheater bar. they are absolutely my go to clamps.

I looked up 72" K body clamps and the longest I could find on a quick search were 60" at Rockler for about $60. The Dubuque 72" clamps are $35. You can nearly buy two for the price of one.

One the very rare occasions I need longer clamps I revert to my old pipe clamps. I have a few old iron clamps about that long and may use them. Sorely tempted to get a few 72" Dubuque ones.

PS, I could be that if you need more pressure than the Dubuque clamps can deliver you need to improve on the joint. Just Sayin'.

I also bought mine from Harry Epstein *LINK*

Jim Matthews

I like these because of the basic construction.

The HF variants are prone to jam under load.

(Probably because my joints are sloppy.)

The Dubuque clamps are also generously anodized and shrug off glue spatter.

The longest I require is 48".


https://www.harryepstein.com/tool-brand/dubuque-clamp.html

Another buying idea

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

When we had a business we bought direct either from Universal , the original manufacturer, or Dubuque. We had to buy case quantities of 10 clamps. There is a substantial markup between factory price and retail. I bought hundreds for our club members.

Re: Dubuque clamping force?

Jack Dover

My joints go together with light tapping of a palm, it's just a HF clamp has such a thin wall that even a lightest bind during glue up will result in tearing where a sliding part pushes against a notch in the bar. I did it few times and didn't even feel it. But the bar itself has never bent, afaik after a certain wall thickness rigidity of a tube is comparable to rigidity of a solid bar of the same section area. I guess a Dubuque clamp just wouldn't let me make another turn of a handle.

They're also not that expensive for the length required. A Bessey H-clamp head and a 72" pipe is 32.45$ + tax, so not a whole lot of savings. There's shipping costs of course, but I don't expect it to make it prohibitively expensive.

Re: Dubuque clamping force?

Barry Irby

I was concerned about tearing the aluminum in the pockets of the notches, but it has not been a problem. I don't baby these clamps at all and have never had one bind up on me.

You will find that getting a joint together with a little clamping force works much better than bumping them either with your hand or a mallet. Has to do with the mechanics of moving the glue. Gentle constant pressure works much better than impact.

There is a lot to like about these clamps. If they are sold as a 2' clamp, they will clamp something that is 2' wide (maybe a little more, I have not checked), but some other brands sell 2' clamps that are 2' overall and will not get even close to clamping something 2' wide. For example, you would have to buy a piece of pipe maybe 30" long to get a clamp that will actually reach 2'. I also like the fact that the notches in them are consistent from clamp to clamp. Maybe that's dumb on my part but somehow I assumed the notches would be sort of random. Glue comes off them easily. You don't get the iron staining.

My only very small complaint is the screw seems to be a little short. I have to be careful to fully retract the screw when I start. Again, maybe its just me but is was something I had to get used to.

Get some, you will like them much better than pipe clamps.

Re: Dubuque clamping force?

William Duffield

If you need more pressure, just double them up.

If you need a longer one, hook two end-to-end with a C-clamp between them.

Either workaround would still weigh less than a Bessey K-body.

If you are concerned about the small additional cost, just calculate everyday price per clamp. You know you never have enough clamps.

How many more K-bodies or pipe clamps will my clamp rack and French cleat take before it performs a rapid unscheduled disassembly?